Switch kites current state of the union

[endorphin]

Switch products and heir marketing/price-politics on the webite from my point of view:

They are one of the very few brands with exact information about the build quality of their stuff. In my opinion this is essential information for a customer who really wants to know how the product performs or may perform.
Most costumers are blinded by the cool-factor, design and amount of paid adds/videos/magazine-appearancies... only and have no affinity in technical characteristics of their desired product.
But the more money a kite producing company spents on advertising and teamriders the more pays the customer for the product and gets less product-quality.
Marketing has to paid by the end-customer ALWAYS!

if i buy a kite i check the bridle system, the photos of the build quality, analyse everything (videos, reviews, photos, watch kiters at the spot how my desired product performs withe them in real life on the water, test it myself as often as possible in different conditions etc.)
Everyone makes different decisions based on different characteristics.
((for example: if you choose your girlfriend only by how sexy-goodlooking she is you may end up exploited/sad/frustrated due to the actions of a bad unfaithful bitchy person with poor manners. Dont do the same mistake with choosing kites ))

Ok, their promotional actions: „special discount sale“ and who-from-where-bought-what make the premium product look like a discount product.
But i prefer the discount sale, as i want to get a good price for a premium product, than to crawl in many different asses in the kitecommunity to get a good price knowing this poor reseller, who maybe lives from selling kites, earns less due to my greediness.

- straight information, cheap deals, best build-quality available
perfect flying characteristics

And their new C5X Bar is amazing

[alford]

Does anyone even know who makes their kites now and what design they're putting their name on? Isn't new biz model to buy current designs from Ikon, maybe make a few tweaks, change colors and put Switch name on? Not inexpensive enough to bother with imho.

[Seawolf]

Also curious to know about this.
I have a quiver of Element 5s which is holding up pretty solid.
Looking to upgrade but having heard that the Element 6s was a bad build. So is a bit sceptical.

[DIALS]

Bought a 16m Helium last yr sent it back. Pulled hard left when foiling at speed and loved to Hindenburg. Bought a 12m Nitro in January. Had 3 valves leak already and they pulled off crazy easy. 3rd valve leaked last week so I'm gonna 5200 all the fuckking valves.
https://ibb.co/WK0kvyH
My kites are in AC other than when I fly them. During transitions with foil if u get under your kite the Nitro also Hindenburgs quite easy. Relaunch is shit. Jumps good and I like its turning speed vs my SB. Ive got a 15m Turbine now and just love that kite for my LW foiling. I may tip toe into foil kites eventually. Ive had it with bladders and valves.

My Nitro 6 in 12m is the Hindenburg ...Worst 12m kite that I ever flew...Sold if after a bunch of repairs from it crashing. Happy to see the back of it..Their Controller 4 bar was full of faults also...and the stitching on the leading edge rested on the ripstop and wore pin holes in the fabric to soon...causing a weak point for a big rip to happen on a heavy landing or crash. This issue was on all Nitros 6 models, I dont know about the others.

[Alysum]

I used to own quite a few Elements 3 and 5 plus a Helium 1. The last kite I got the Helium 3 12m is the worst kite I've ever owned. It kept dropping out of the sky at zenith and heaps of canopy flutter.
Plus my Controller 4 depower line snapped just under a year (this is after I had to return the first one because of uneven line lengths). They refused to replace it under warranty, and I cannot take the pin out of the CL to replace the line, so I've binned the whole bars. After all the issues I also had with the Controller 2, that was it, no more Switch for me.
I feel that the kites have gone downhill since Bill Hansen left. Their earlier kites were decent and had good value. Plus warranty cover was better earlier.

[marlboroughman]

Are they still doing this? I fixed quite a few. I said it was wrong long time ago. One scratch that cuts single thread and canopy separates from LE.



Why are we not using one single row of three-step zigzag like all the others? Every added hole in the leading edge weakens the structure. If you need to add holes, they must be spaced out as far as possible. We use a more time consuming two rows of two-step zigzag to produce considerable added strength to the design.

[Lancastor]

I bought a Nano 12m 4-5 month ago and had several sessions with it. During the next session the LE deflated and kite dropped and dragged me to the beach. Kite has got a bit of damage as a result.
Was very upset.
I found the reason and the reason was a manufacturing defect on the LE main valve.
I made a picture and asked customer support for clarification.
Switchkiteboarding customer service came back to me in 2-3 days and acknowledged that it a guarantee case and promised to send me a replacement.
Unfortunately they had no stock of the same model and the same size and then I asked if they would agree to send me another size but for my current 12m I would try to make a DIY fix.
I fixed my 12m and I got a new 10m from Switchkites.
Really impressed with customer care.
I have much worse example (can say NONE) of customer support just for basic questions from another brand.
I can not judge about performance and quality of their kites (my case was more like a defect rather than problem by design or bad materials) since I'm quite new to kitesurfing but I definitely give credits to this brand for the attitude in my case.

[Dave_5280]

Their business model sounds a good sales pitch that doesn’t deliver.

I considered them when they were such a hot topic that they delivery delay messages on their web site. So glad I didn’t buy from them.

[Matteo V]

Keep the complaints coming....and the stories of good customer service. This helps them (Switch and other kite companies) focus on making things right.

Something else to think about - how would you like to have the same problems with a kite that costs twice as much? I was there. I purchased Ozone more than a decade ago, and I did so because I wanted top quality materials with perfect customer service. Unfortunately, I got neither out of Ozone. Then I purchases HQ, and Best. While the customer service was on a few occasions just as bad as Ozone, at least it stung a bit less since I hadn't overpaid for the kites.